Who Knew? Some Fun Facts

An average sized cumulus cloud (the big white fluffy ones you see on a sunny day) weighs around a million tons. A cloud typically has a volume of around 1km3 and a density of around 1.003kg per m3 – that's a density that’s around 0.4 per cent lower than the dry air surrounding it which is why clouds float, rather than crashing to earth.
 
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The Pythagorean Cup (also known as the Pythagoras Cup) is one of Pythagoras’s lesser-known inventions. Depending on who you speak to, this rather plain looking cup was either meant to teach people a lesson in moderation or demonstrate the philosopher’s sense of humor.

Pythagoras crafted the cup to inspire people to drink wine in moderation. Inside the cup there is a line that defines the maximum level of wine the cup can hold. A trickle above that line and the cup automatically empties its contents from a hidden hole in its base.

This artifact is also known as the “Cup of Justice” or “Greedy Cup,” since many scholars believe that Pythagoras —who apparently wasn’t much of a drinker —wanted to show his students and followers the detrimental effects of greediness in one’s life.

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Pythagorean Cup: Turning Greedy Partygoers into Wet Blankets
 
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RadishRose said:
Pythagorean-cup-isolated-on-white-background-preview.jpg

The Pythagorean Cup (also known as the Pythagoras Cup) is one of Pythagoras’s lesser-known inventions. Depending on who you speak to, this rather plain looking cup was either meant to teach people a lesson in moderation or demonstrate the philosopher’s sense of humor.

Pythagoras crafted the cup to inspire people to drink wine in moderation. Inside the cup there is a line that defines the maximum level of wine the cup can hold. A trickle above that line and the cup automatically empties its contents from a hidden hole in its base.

This artifact is also known as the “Cup of Justice” or “Greedy Cup,” since many scholars believe that Pythagoras —who apparently wasn’t much of a drinker —wanted to show his students and followers the detrimental effects of greediness in one’s life.

A-cross-section-of-a-Pythagorean-cup-when-filled-with-wine.jpg

Pythagorean Cup: Turning Greedy Partygoers into Wet Blankets
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Just on a glance, without reading about it, it appears to function by syphon action, once the liquid level is high enough.

Also it appears to me it would be quite difficult to craft this cup, as pottery wasn't using modern industrial methods & tech. (Any SF potters looking at this?)
 
While a woman is pregnant, her baby's unique DNA becomes part of the DNA in her blood and brain for up to 27 years after the baby's birth.

When it was first seen, researchers called it microchimerism. After further research, they're calling it maternal chimerism, and one recent study claims they found baby's DNA in mother's heart tissue 18 years after pregnancy.

Scientists theorize this baby DNA is responsible for a mother's strong emotional connection with her kids and why they are fearlessly protective of them....aka, maternal instinct.

They want to find out if some mothers retain more (or less) of this DNA than others, and if some retain it for longer or shorter periods of time, and if that correlates with how emotionally connected and protective they are.

I wonder if that will ever lead to a medication. I'm thinking maybe drug addiction (or some medications) disturbs a mother's baby DNA absorption or something..
 
Murrmurr said:
Scientists theorize this baby DNA is responsible for a mother's strong emotional connection with her kids and why they are fearlessly protective of them....aka, maternal instinct.

They want to find out if some mothers retain more (or less) of this DNA than others, and if some retain it for longer or shorter periods of time, and if that correlates with how emotionally connected and protective they are
Click to expand...
Interesting. Still, I think most of us have noticed that even before having a child some girls or young women seem to have a lot of maternal instinct on tap (i.e., some more than others). As they display with other people's children or with pets. Might be tricky to separate out the factors.
 
JBR said:
Interesting. Still, I think most of us have noticed that even before having a child some girls or young women seem to have a lot of maternal instinct on tap (i.e., some more than others). As they display with other people's children or with pets. Might be tricky to separate out the factors.
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By and large, women are predisposed to be more maternal than men, and little girls more than little boys, and it's probably in their DNA.

But this "baby DNA" infiltration only occurs during pregnancy, and then hangs on for years...decades, even. And I suppose researchers will be able to clearly separate learned maternal behaviors from predisposed maternal behaviors, and both of those from this biophysical process they just discovered.

Honestly, I think a pill or some sort of treatment is coming.
 
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